Research suggests the links between eating slower and weight management.
In this day and age, we live in such and instant society, we can almost have anything we want or need to know, at our finger tips with today’s technology. This has translated into a fast-paced society and often resulting in, inhaling our food which has metabolic consequences. Fast eaters’ bodies can react negatively with having glucose tolerance issues and insulin resistance. Eating slower helps control these issues, by letting your body digest food more effectively, to control a huge blood sugar spike and eating fewer calories in general.
Follow these tips below to help you in this approach:
- Chew with purpose. Chew each bite about 20 times to help you adjust your pace. Or try chewing for 15 seconds or more if counting seems a little monotonous
- Take smaller bites. Chewing slow is great, but also take into account your bite size. If you eat your meal in 7-8 big chunks, likely it’s still too fast. So, engaging in smaller bites and chewing will help ensure slower eating.
- Engage your senses. Taste is the sense most associated with food. But that is tightly tied into smell. If you can’t smell you most likely can’t taste. Take time to smell the aroma of your food, enjoy how the food looks and how the texture feels when eating it, this will also help in slowing your pace.
- Break in-between bites. Intentionally pausing after each bite, putting your utensils down or putting food down that is handled, is yet another trick to slow down.
- Listen to your body. Hunger is physical, and if you really listen to your body, it will tell you when you are hungry and when you are full. It takes about 20 minutes for brain to register once you start eating to when you are full. Scarfing down your food usually means you are eating more than needed as the body hasn’t had time to register. By eating slower, you will allow time for your brain and stomach to register to when it is getting full and you will have eaten less.
- Try intuitive eating: This approach is all about connecting with your body and its needs, much like in #5 in listening to your body. The guiding principle behind intuitive eating is simple: eat when you feel hungry, stop when you feel full. It works best if you identify foods that are nutrient rich as healthy fats, lean proteins and complex carbohydrates with lots of fiber will not only help you feel fuller for longer, but will also keep you satisfied.
- Change your food mindset. Food for many people is social and for others it is just fuel. If you are in the majority there is an emotion linked with food. By making this a social event with conversation and making it a pleasurable experience, is yet another way to help slow down.
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/1/e019589
*If this article or any past articles leaves you with questions, the want to be a better you, the courage to take the first step to a happier you, than please contact me at:
Mikkie Pollon (Nettles), Certified Personal Trainer/Holistic & Sports Nutritionist
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